| Cascading Style Sheets (or CSS for short) have | | | | structure and then again to understand the content. |
| slowly but surely become a website design standard | | | | It should also be recognised that a Table's contents |
| over the past few years. It was not that many | | | | can only be presented to the screen in one go, |
| years ago that people used Frames to position their | | | | whereas CSS content will drop in separately, thereby |
| content across their web pages and Tables gradually | | | | giving a better user experience. It is also possible to |
| replaced this. Many low-end website developers are | | | | govern the order in which specific screen elements |
| still very comfortable with Tables, as it 'does what it | | | | appear, so the user is not distracted by the more |
| says on the tin'. However, more and more people are | | | | bulky and slower to load image files. Furthermore, |
| now moving over to CSS, as virtually all the layout | | | | because all the code involved with CSS page layout is |
| options can be achieved using the code. | | | | held in one external CSS document and is cached, it |
| One major problem with CSS is that not all Web | | | | is faster than Table layouts that need to be |
| browsers produce the same results and it has not | | | | interpreted every time a new page is displayed; |
| been helped in the past by the various browsers | | | | 4. It is much easier to edit existing pages and to add |
| employing their own way of interpreting certain CSS | | | | new pages, particularly in the area of subtle |
| conventions. You can think your CSS design looks OK | | | | formatting amendments. For example, you can |
| in the current version of your preferred browser and | | | | change the font or colour scheme across an entire |
| can then be crestfallen when you view your Web | | | | website in literally minutes; |
| pages in another version that has destroyed the | | | | 5. CSS delivers enhanced accessibility. In recent |
| formatting. Therefore, when moving over to CSS, it | | | | years the number of people using web browsers on |
| is important that you use the capabilities that are | | | | hand-held devices has risen significantly and CSS plays |
| consistently supported across the entire range of | | | | an important function in delivering content to PDA's |
| popular browsers. It is interesting that the new | | | | etc through additional CSS documents. This just isn't |
| version 7 of Microsoft's Internet Explorer has fixed a | | | | possible with Table-driven layouts; |
| number of earlier anomalies, but many people are | | | | 6. CSS is considered to be more Search Engine |
| now waking up to the reality that IE7 has in fact | | | | friendly because they can spider CSS pages quicker. |
| caused problems arising from their earlier | | | | However, it remains to be seen if this has any |
| workarounds! | | | | tangible benefits such as an improvement on the |
| So why not bother with CSS, if Tables work for | | | | your page ranking. |
| you? The principal advantages are as follows: | | | | On the flipside, there are a few disadvantages to |
| 1. Web page code is generally much easier to follow; | | | | CSS web page design you should consider: |
| 2. The amount of code used to achieve the same | | | | 1. As compared with Tables, CSS involves a much |
| result is much less. The general view is that by | | | | bigger learning curve; |
| switching to a CSS layout, the typical page size | | | | 2. Because of cross browser support issues, the |
| reduction is between 50 - 60 per cent; | | | | time spent implementing workarounds should not be |
| 3. Download speeds for CSS pages are generally | | | | underestimated; |
| faster than their Table-driven counterparts. This is | | | | 3. New browser versions can catch website |
| because browsers have to read through the table | | | | developers napping if you are not careful. You can |
| code twice before they are able to display the | | | | find that earlier workarounds have been overcome |
| contents. They do this firstly to figure out the | | | | and the look of your website has changed overnight. |